SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14756, 12 February 1910, Page 5

SUNDAY CIRCLE.

ABOUT PEOPLE.

RELIGIOUS READIi

THE HOUSE OF PAIN. Unto Hie Prison House of Pain none willingly repair— The bravest who an entrance gain Reluctant linger there— ■ For Pleasure, passing by that door, stays not to cheer the sight, And Sympathy but muffles sound and banishes the light. Yet in the Prison House of' Pain things full of beauty blow— . N Like Christmas roses, which attain Perfection 'mid the snow— ' Love, entering, in his mild warmth the darkest shadows melt, And often, where 'the hush is deep, the waft of wings is felt. Ah r mc! the Prison House of Painlwhnt lessons there-are bought! ■ Lessons of a sublimer strain Than any elsewhere taught— Amid its loneliness and gloom, grave meanings grow more clear, For to no earthly dwelling-place seems God so strangely near I Florence Earle Coaies. OUmiCATIOH. 0 Lord our God, we como to Thee in Thy last best name of Love, and beseech Thco that wo may to moved by Thy mercies to yield ourselves living sacrifices, oiir. reasonable service..- Wc bless Thee for all'tho bonds by which Thou dost lead us to Thyself. \Vo thank Thco ithat. Thou hast, set us the example of tho Charity 'Unit never;' failcth, is 'no* soon angry,, honeth all things; and we thank Thco that Tho'ii dost'heap coals of fifo on the heads of those wiio have turned'away from; and • forgotten Thee. 'Thou art never over: coino Of ovil; Thou art. ever overconirhg our evil with Thy good. Help us to lay to heart aright all Thy great mercies. Thy tender, care, Thy wise providence, Thy unfailing guidance, Thy - pardoning mercy, Thy restoring grace, Thy quietening . Spirit. And may ivo not only lay these.to heart, but may our lives show that thoy are realities with us, and that we possess the powers wliieh Thou hast not bestowed upon the world. Amcii.

' Meditation. j THE COMFORT OF GOD. AVe know our best friends only when wowwaltk t with .thorn, through their Valley of Iho Shadow of Death, and they with us through our dark valley. Wo' know God best o|ily when Ho is our companion in .our tears; when''we see Him in the darkness; when Ho is with us in. the furnaco of fire. "As ono whom his mother eoniforteth, so will I comfort thee," says Jehovah. Did you ever notice how a mother comforts her sobbing child? The father stands by his side, brushes off the 'dirt which has come upon his clothes from the fall, and counsels him to be bravo. The mother picks him up, holds him to her breast, stills his sobbing by her strange hypnotic power, pours lier own life into his, and in,a moment or* two he is looking up into her sympathetic face with a smil© through his tears. Sho has given to him strength to meet his trouble. So God comforts His child, Ho. takes us to Himself, and we never see Him 'so plainly, or understand Him so well as when He reveals Himself to us in the chamber ot sorrow.—Di- Lyman J. Abbott. ExnoimrioN. PRACTICE AND SPECULATION. Practice and not speculation is the revealing medium' of power, .its divinely sjinctional channel. It is through continued effort, and repeated failure that man eventually discovers what he is, and what he ought to do; through this aloneMie attains the station in which ho is usefullest and happiest, and secures'the post and employment he was created to fulfil. The most distressful period in life—and likewise the. most unsatisfactory whilo it lasts-is the','period in which a man feels the stirring of his< powers, yet sees no area for their play. ,And the most miserable of men are those who, having missed their.- mission, find lliemsolvcs on shipboard, bound for Tarshish, when their voice is needed in the streets, at Ninoveh. They are, indeed, unfortunate who thus find themselves at a work unsuited to their powers, and in circumstances unfitted to their calling. Gcd never meant that it should be so. He who calls, fits; and He who fits, calls. Blessed is the man who knoweth his Master's will, and doeth it.J. -M. Mather.

The' Rev. Dr Solbie, so well and favourably known as assistant editor of Dr Hastings's Dictionaries, lias decided to come forward as a candidate for the Chair of Hebrew in the Glasgow United Free Church College, vacant by the appointment of Dr (ieorge Adam Smith to the principalship of Aberdeen University. Dr Sclbio had a -most distinguished academic career, and is oiic of ' the most accomplished scholars of our time. The students of Professor Macfadyen, of Toronto, who is also named for tho Glasgow Chair of Hebrew, have addressed to him a petition earnestly pleading with him to remain in Canada, where he has been very popular and successful. Dr Macfadyen lis a strong religious force as well as a distinguished scholar. Tho death is announced' of Mi- T. Anthony Denny, at the ago of 91. Mr Denny, was for many years one of the leading members of Marylcbono Presbyterian Church. He was a steady supporter of. ..Dr. Pentecost, and in later years of Dr Hanson. Growing infirmities and the change of his "residence to Richmond obliged him to sovci, li;s connection with this .church. Mr Denny was interested in religious work of all 'kinds, and was a favourite chairman at tho May meetings. Ho was a most generous contributor to many good causes. The great evangelistic missions of the, last 30 years had his eager support. He was a warm friend of the Salvation Army, and approved, the early work of General Booth. In 1893 Mr Denny married Lady Hope, widow of Admiral ,S*h,' James Hope. '

The Rev. Dr Hay Hunter, senior minister of St. Andrew's Parish Church, Edinburgh, died recently at the comparatively early age of 54. He has been for three years at least an invalid. Dr Hay Hunter was a man of singularly attractive personality, and very versatile. Along with tho late Mr Walter W.hyto he wrote a hovel, "My Ducats and' My Daughter," which was rightly accepted in its day as an admirable and even brilliant picture, of Scottish life in the Borders. Tho share of the respective authors was matter ol controversy, hut Dr Hunter, in other stories proved his incttje. Ho was one of the earliest among the ministers of tho Church of Scotland to study tho criticism of the Old Testament, and his books, "The Story of Daniel" and "After the Exile," have real merit, combining as they do literary skill with effective presentation and sound scholarship: '

If Mr Lloyd George hud accepted a certain offer and left the Baptist community, for the Established Church, "I might have been a curate now," lie told his Queen's Hull audience. A glance through the House of Commons list would have given him the names of several nieir who had pursued the 'reverse course ami left tho Chtii-ol' for a seat in Parliament. Mr George Iky Morgan is an example. After a brief career as an elementary teacher, he became a Baptist minister, and held a post in that capacity at Woodberry Down for 10 yours. On tho oilier side is Sir Gilbert Parker, whose early training, was directed towards the Church. But ill. 'health supervened, ami caused his do-, parture from Canada.for Australia, where he acquired the fulness of knowledge which has made liini one of our-staunchest Imperialists.

The Rev. J. Morgan.Gibbon preached at Lmon Chapel, Islington, on the occasion of' the church anniversary, and a large congregation fully appreciated his lino sermon on "Heroism." There must, he said, be a measure of heroism in every man as a pre-condition to goodness, and heroism was only attained by devotion to a cause or to a person. What the churches lacked in this critical ago was passion. There, was too much '"invalid talk." Christians were not prepared to make sacrifices. '• We seem," said tho preacher, "not only to have lost courage to be brave ourselves, but the greater courage that dares to demand sacrifice from other people. The world praises us as it never did before. We are called reasonable, tolerant, broadminded, because we go to the golf links or play tennis or read yellow-bucked i:nvtk pn Sunday. Jhc .world blokes uj a *ad

M FOR THE HOME

says, 'There is, not much difference between us now.' Oh, let us turn frpm this worthless bairadiction and seek the benediclion of ths Master. We want more heroism in our religious work." -'■ FROM ALL SOURCES. The Rev. T. Warham, President of ,the Queensland Methodist Conference, has addressed a. pastoral letter to tho members of tho Methodist Church in that State, urging them to take, full advantage of tho referendum 'on /April -6, to vote. in. favour of the introduction of tlie Bible into the Queensland State schools. The President of the Victorian and Tas'.lranian Methodist Conference lias been approached by tho Scripture. Instruction, Campaign Council with the request that, at the coming meeting of Conference, the Rev. Joseph Nicholson' bo released from circuit work, so that ho may organise public "opinion throughout the State in favour of the introduction of Scripture instruction in States schools by methods now existing in New South Wales, and harmonising with tho referendum to be taken in Queensland in April next.

At tho Congress of Australasian Congro[gational Unions held in Hobart, the Rov. W. T. Kenoh read a paper ontitled "The I New Congregationalism." Ho said .there ! were 42. ministers of tho denomination in Victoria, and their average stipends "amounted .to £199 a year. A great majority of them received "sWj>cjkls under £175 a year. What was true of Victoria was true "more or less of all the States. Statistically their denomination was at tho bottom ot the list. The population of Australia was increasing, but tho membership of the Church' was not increasing proportionally. Twenty-six years ago they Had 12,147 jnonJ bow. To-day they mid' 19,122. That showed that in 26 years they had only gained for tho whole of Australia 6975 members. Were they going to ho satisfied with that? The paper induced a long discussion, at tho end of which 'it was resolved: "That a committee bo appointed to consider the new Congregationalism, and how far soino of the features ot the- British t central fund scheme can be assimilated.' 1

Sir Bampfylde Fuller, K.C.-S.L, in tho Ninetenth Century, puts in a plea for religious education in Ihc nation's schools. Religion he says, beneficially influences tho human character by powerfully stimulating the imaginative faculties. It is his imagination, rather than his understanding, that has placed man above tho.brutes. To its flight he owes, specially and entirely, his' conception of a pure and unselfish morality, and those feelings of sentiment from which have sprung tho ideas of tho home, the race, and the nation. H© points to the effect in America of shutting religion out of tho schools: "Vast numbers of children grow.up in-tho belief that in the doctrine of getting on ! is to bo found the solution of life s difficulties, and that there is no room in man's stoek-in-trado for ideals or aspirations which cannot be valued on a. cash basis. At the same time. American life, public and private, has fallen mom and more under the fascination' of the dollar; not merely do the idle prize riches as tho means of an extravagant and ostentatious luxury, but tho workers regard their attainment as the ono solid object that is worth a struggle. Students of human nature in America, whether Americans or foreigners, are- oppressed with a sense of growing, materialism, and amongst thorn are many who, from the standpoint of philosophic agnosticism, regretfully attributeithis weakomng of the national character to the ostracism of religion from tho national' schools.

. CONGREGATIONAL STATISTICS. In Great Britain (according to the Consgrcgahonal Year Book) there are 4932 churches, branch churches, and mission stations providing sitting- accommodation, for -1,806.07? persons. Tlio roll of Church .membership j s 495,170, with 709,910 scholars '.and 69,828 teachers in the Sunday schools. iQomparcd with lost, year's return*, theso 'figures show an increase of 17 churches, 'with.4sß7 sittings, but a deoreaso in Church 'members of .2492. Of this number no Jess than 2048 decrease is reported from Wales, 'a serious drop from the high-water mark • i m-'i'i" tho ycav 1905 as t ' l, ° acsuit of ' the Welsh rovival. Comparison with tho last five years show, however, that in 1903' the- membership of tho churches in Wales stood at 153,350, and the present returns report a roll of 165,997—thus showing there has boon a, steady average increaso over ,tho. period between 1903 and 1908. The returns of Iho Sunday schools in Great Britain 6how also a decrease of 5461, but this is largely accounted for in the Scittish returns, owing to the fact that in former years tho Sunday school statistics included tho membership of Bible classes. This year l|ie statistics do not include the membership of these classes. There- are 3195 ministers, and ,of theso 235 arc temporarily withoutpastoral charge, 85 arc engaged in tutorial or other professional work, 45 are ocoupicd in secretarial duties, arid 422, by reason of age or ill. health, have retired from pastoral duty. There are also 308 evangelists and 'ay pastors, 5422 lay preachers, and 402 churches without pastors. During tho year 12 new churches have been formed, and 23 new chapels and halls and 10 schoolrooms have been opened. There have been 48 new settlements of : ministers, and of this number 44- have been trained in the denominational colleges, 3 in other colleges .leaving only 1 whose training was unknown. In the 15 British and colonial colleges there are 65 professors and lecturers, with 421 students training for the ministry, and in addition there are 10 institutions in heathen lands belonging to the London Missionary Society training about 300 native students.

Three ministers'entered the Congregatio'nal ministry from other communions, whilst'B have left for other denominations, including 4 for the Church of England and 1 each for the Calvinistic Methodist, Unitarian, Welsh Free Church, and Pentecostal Cliruch. r